


Love is Blind

by LeWuffles



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Alternate Universe - No Sburb/Sgrub Sessions, Alternate Universe - No Sgrub Session, Coffee Shops, Collegestuck, F/F, F/M, M/M, johndave - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-04
Updated: 2015-07-08
Packaged: 2018-04-07 14:08:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4266147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeWuffles/pseuds/LeWuffles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>roses are red<br/>violets are blue<br/>i cant write summaries<br/>plz send help</p><p>(i promise that I do not actually suck at writing, i just cannot write a summary to save my life..)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Licking Eyeballs is Gross

       ====> Dave: Be rudely awakened.

That’s apparent-fucking-ly what was happening here. You were perfectly happy with staying under the mountain that was your favourite fluffy comforter. Perfectly happy staying in bed and doing nothing. Perfectly happy and willing to mope about the upcoming classes that were going to start next week.

It’s not even like you don’t want to attend college. You had been freaking out about getting into SCAD since the ending of 8th grade when you actually figured out that there was a life to be lived after high school ended. Everyone was talking about how they were freaking out about what college they were going to attend, lots of annoying conversations all on the same topic about “am I going to get into my dream college”. “How am I going to find the money to pay for it?”. “What do I do if none of them accept me?!”. But not you. You were just going to roll with the punches. Go wherever life takes you. Sound all poetical and shit in the process. Anyways, it was un-Strider-like to freak out over something so small (but it wasn’t small in reality..?). So you brought it up with Bro one night over your usual feast of Chinese food and choice apple juice (and of course his shitty orange soda. Pretty sure he only liked the crap because it was orange. The bastard.). Just brought it up real casually. But of course he could see you freaking out behind the wall of protection you thought your shades granted you. Saw your frantic eyes, your scared expression and stiff posture. That night he laid down some deep shit on you. You guys had an actual feelings jam and got your shit sorted out. You both even took off your shades. He actually helped you figure out what you wanted to do after school, he helped you figure out what college to go to (thank god not in Texas), he helped you figure out what the difference was between major class courses and minor class courses (and thank god for that), and after all these years after that one night in 8th grade, he helped you move all your crap into your dorm and made sure you were gonna be cool. You were actually thankful to have that douche in your life for once, though you’d never admit that to anyone. How you got here exactly, was a mystery. You and your Bro weren’t exactly rich, but if you had to bet on anything, it was probably the money he made from his stupid puppet industry. But you learned not to question how you achieved most things in your life.

So after all of that, here you are, back in the present. Back to your current problem at hand. You were so desperate to just stay inside and just tell the world it could go fuck itself that you were even more than willing to listen Sollux and his girlfriend suck each other’s faces off not even 3 feet away from your nesting area. But nope. APPARENTLY Terezi had different plans for today. And for some terrible reason, those particular plans included you for other reasons you didn’t even want to know.

“For FUCKS SAKE, TZ,” Sollux lisped angrily, pausing his intense daily sloppy make outs to attempt telling Terezi off. Looked like it was going to be hard with how swollen his lips were (and not even to mention that hardcore lisp that guy rocked). Seriously, he and his girl had been going at it since…. Well since it was dark outside. Dave had woken up against his own will to some particularly load moans and spring creaking (and some creepy giggles too). Dave had simply reminded them of his presence with a simple “Guy’s, I understand that you both love each other very much but save the baby making until after marriage, mmk?”. All he got in response were more giggles and a few lisped curses (but he didn’t hear anything after that, so he had considered it a mission accomplished). “It’s too fucking EARLY for this shit!”

“Oh shut up Sol.” Giggled a voice from beside (….under? oh god) Sir Lispy Douche himself.

“Make me.” Dave was sure an eyebrow wiggle ensued following the words.

“Gladly”

Aaaaaaaand we’ve come full circle ladies, gentlemen and everything in between.

“Oh Sollux, it’s never nearly early enough for JUSTICE!” cackled the one and only herself. Terezi had been fascinated with the law and serving justice to others for as long as everyone could remember, but as soon as she’d caught wind that Dave and most of her other friends (well basically all of them) had been planning to go SCAD, she had tagged along as well. She had said that she didn’t take college as seriously as everyone else was, and if anything she was going so that she could remain in contact with her closest friends. She had basically given up her dreams of studying the law to come to some art school with what she considered her family. Her sister, Latula, had gone off with her boyfriend Mituna at the slight age of 19, leaving Terezi (who was partially blind and only 15 at the time) to fend for herself. Terezi didn’t resent her sister for it, though. She knew that she was unhappy where she was at the time, and even though she didn’t know him, Terezi knew her sister’s boyfriend couldn’t possibly care for himself. Not to mention that Dave and Terezi had been dating at the time. Head over heels for each other. Wasn’t much of an amazing relationship though. They broke it off mutually towards the end of high school after being together since the beginning of high school, and had remained friends.

“Nah ‘Rezi, it is actually in fact to fucking early for this. Bet you haven’t even heard the morning rooster crow yet. That’s how you just know it’s too early. ‘D be a sight to see, a rooster in downtown Savannah. Just walking down the sidewalk minding your own fucking business and then right there. Fucking rooster standing in front of you. Middle of downtown Savannah. Rooster. Part of you wants to pet it. Part of you wants to get the fuck out of that scene because fuck that if you want to get bitten by a chicken and contract someone sort of.. what was it? Swine flu? Shit, no, that was pigs or something wasn’t it. Bird flu. Yea that one. Can you even get bitten by a chicken? Are roosters even fucking chickens?” Dave rambled from under the protection of his comforter. In the process of Sollux and Terezi, he’d managed to crawl back under it without Terezi finding out.

“Oh my GOD, cool kid. The horrible words you speak have SOMEHOW managed to get more horrible.”

“Nah, you know you love it. You know you love me. Kiss me TZ. I want you to carry me off into a sunset. Put me on a horse and let’s ride away together. I want a proper church wedding. I want everyone there and I require only the most beautiful (ugly), floofy (uglY), expensive (HORRIBLE) dress that money can buy. I want a big rock on my finger. Rock better be so big that I can barely walk with it on. Might have to just put that shit on display instead of wearing it. We can just be so disgusting with our PDA like Sollux and, wait what was your name again?” Dave mumbled, a slight smile in his voice now.

“Aradia!” she replied, the sound muffled. She was laughing out fully now.

“So digusting like Sollux and Aradia that people will just know we’re married. Carry around some of those creepy dollar-store babies just to make it look more authentic, ya feel?”

“God just get UP! It not even early either, you idiots. It’s like, 11:45.” She pouted as she jumped up and down on Dave’s bed, earning a groan from the Strider. “Don’t make me drag you out of bed Dave. We both know that I will do it. I’ve done it before. I’ll do it again.” That was completely true. One time when they were still dating, Terezi wanted to go to this one party that some chick was throwing at her parents’ house; said there was going to be lots of booze and shit like that and everything. Dave wasn’t much of a drinker, obviously, not being the age yet, but like hell if that was gonna stop him. Still, he wasn’t interested in going. Terezi had even promised him some awesome make outs (though when he looked back on it, there was a lot of licking of his face involved on her part, and that sort of made him shiver now), but alas, he still didn’t feel like going. Not like he could trust anyone there with pouring the drink he wanted anyways (not even his own girlfriend). Couldn’t even fully enjoy it like everyone else could. So Terezi literally ripped the blankets off of him, took him by his ankles, and drug his ass out the door. Needless to say it was one of the best nights of his life, and he got his promised make outs, but he never wanted to experience the feeling of his shades being dragged on concrete again. It was horrible. They still have the same scratches on them.

“Fine, fine I’m up. Good god. Stop nagging me woman.”

“Great! Meet me by the front door in 5 or I’m going to assume that you need to be dragged out!”

Dave sighed as she slowly reached to move from her position straddling his legs. He pawed for his shades on his nightstand, but was only met with a few bottles of medicine, his wallet, his phone: all things that were obviously not his shades. As he was getting frustrated, Terezi reached to grab his shades for him.

“Don’t need yer help” Dave mumbled batting her hand away with the best of his attempts, only to find his hand pinned down and his shades slipped onto his face for him.

“Been used to this wayyy longer than you have, cool kid.” Terezi said chuckling. Dave felt her shrug before she hopped off of him to exit the room. “Be out in 5 like I said or you’ll suffer the consequences of JUSTICE!!”

 

====> John: Be rudely awakened.

That’s apparent-fucking-ly what’s happening here.

*BEEEEP *BEEP* *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-

“FOR FUCKS SAKE EGBERT TURN OFF THAT FUCKING ALARM.” Sounded an angry voice from the next room over, followed by a loud thump on the wall.

You groan and begrudgingly stick your arm out from under the comfy embrace of the warmth provided to you by your many blankets strewn on your thin bed (provided courtesy of the college). If you could help it, you would never move from where you were. As much as you thought college was going to suck from the movies you watched (and most of the rom-coms that Karkat made you watch throughout middle and high school), it wasn’t really all that bad. Your dad had made sure that you would be more than comfortable in your dorm, hence the millions of your favourite blankets that you’d collected over the years that lie on your bed. He made sure that you had only the fluffiest of pillows on your bed, and he helped you take down and put up your pick of your collection on movie posters. If fate would have it, there’s no chance in hell that you’re getting out of bed. Until later today. You did have plans after all (but that wasn’t until later towards 11:30, and the sun was only just rising over the horizon when you’d waken up around 7!)

“You know, sometimes Karkat can really get under my fucking skin, but I have to admit, the guy took the words right out of my god damn mouth.” Stated an annoyed sounding voice, though it was laced with her usual smugness and John could hear the grin on her face in her words. “I mean that thing has going off for, what, 5 hours now?”

That got you out of bed.

Or, onto the floor at least.

“WHAT!? WHY DIDN’T YOU WAKE ME UP VRISKA?” shouted a groggy John. He was partially furious, but the other half of his brain was currently preoccupied with telling his nerves to make him aware of the pain of falling onto the hard floor (and it was freezing down here!).

“You looked like you were enjoying yourself. Sometimes you mumble you know. In your sleep. You sound like a madman sometimes, mumbling about how you were never getting out of your bed, how you were so comfy. There was this one time where.. oh my gooooooood, this one time where you must have been having some kind of a wet dream about Matthew Ma-“

“Yea whatever don’t finish that sentence.”

A quick swipe of his phone from beside his pillow – must’ve fell asleep doing something on it again. Gotta stop doing that John – and a click to the power button at the top showed the time of 12:01.

“Aw man I missed the freshman meetup at the Hive! There was going to be a special breakfast and everything!”

He was sort of disappointed now. He’d been looking forward to meeting some new people at the event. He didn’t want to be one of the people at college who only hung out with friends that’d he’d known forever! He was excited to meet someone brand new not that he had anything against his friends! Most of them. Okay a good half of them. A quick look over to Vriska showed she had no care in the world at the moment, other than undoubtedly trolling another poor person on Tumblr. The sound of her tapping excitedly (and somewhat angrily) at the keyboard and the occasional tap at the trackpad on her laptop filled the room, somewhat calmingly. Her bushy blonde fringe fell over her, hiding her face like a curtain. The blue streaks in her hair were illuminated by the bright display of her computer and seemed to glow in the white light. She had her favourite cerulean blanket wrapped around her shoulders and sat in a black tank top and her usual spider web boxers. Her pale skin also seemed to glow quite eerily, and John looked away before he thought any more ill thoughts of Vriska. She had been his friend since the 4th grade. He remembered how his teacher said that they had a new student. Vriska had her natural brown hair back then. She boasted about how she came all the way from Germany, “probably further than any of you would ever get in your pathetic lives” she said. You remembered later hearing the other kids talking about her and making fun of her, and she got sent home early that day for a reason you eventually figured out (and a few more times during the year for hitting the other kids, or using bad language. Who was anyone kidding, a LOT of times.). Now that you think about it, she hasn’t really changed much. You guys had been friends ever since then, and then met the rest of “the gang” in middle school and high school. Now here all of you were, in college! You’d all come really far.

“Well,” he thought to himself in his head. “no point in getting back in bed. Maybe I’ll go and just wander the sidewalks.” This is exactly what he was going to do. Kinda. He did get dressed, getting up from his landing spot on the floor and walked over to his clothes drawers, stretching as he did so. He could feel the stretch of his torso, the pop of his shoulders, and the pop of his toes and ankles as he stopped in front of the dresser to lift up on his feet. He pulled one of the spaces open: his shirt drawer. He contemplated which shirt to wear before giving up and just settling on a nice white V-neck and just a pair of khaki cargo shorts he’d worn to go run an errand the other day. He slipped his night shirt off over his head, now standing in just his boxers. As he began pulling on his shorts, he heard a wolf whistle, followed by a sigh from Vriska.

“Damn Egbert. It’s a shame you have to cover up that hot bod of yours. Damn real shame.” Vriska smirked, her eyes lingering in certain places as she one-overed you. This happened almost every morning. You’re sure that she might have had a thing for you in the past, and she probably still does now. Her touches always lingered a little too long, her hugs a little tighter than everyone else’s and feeling more personal. You didn’t mind though. You sort of had a crush on her way back... You just admired how she didn’t take shit from anyone and how she always stood up for you too, though you don’t need it anymore…. You’re of legal age now and perfectly capable of protecting yourself from other people! Mostly. Not really.

“Yeah, well, surprising as it may come to you, I don’t think the rest of our roommates are as comfortable with me toeing around in my boxers as you seem to be.” John said chuckling as he pulled the V-neck over his head and sliding his usual pair of Sperry’s on, he headed out of the room.

To be completely honest, he and his friends had gotten hooked up with a pretty sweet dorm. It was one of the new bigger ones, one of the testing ones. It was really cheap to pay for when all 8 of them chipped in because they were basically acting as guinea pigs for the college to figure out if it was okay enough for more to be built. No one was complaining though; it was pretty lush after all! There were 4 rooms in total, with a bathroom and the end of the hall, and a living space with a nice enough kitchen for the little cooking that Karkat (and you too occasionally) liked to do every now in then. To the left of John and Vriska’s room was Karkat and Gamzee’s room, with Equius and Nepeta’s room across from his and Jade and Tavros’ from across from Karkat’s. Vriska wanted to share a room with Tavros, but everyone knew better than to let that happen. Instead, John and Jade gave up on their plan to share and instead Jade went to share with Tavros. It was all okay though, neither twin minded having their plans changed up a bit! Besides, it wasn’t like Jade hated Tavros anyways! They were actually quite good friends throughout school.

John silently padded his way down the hallway (or at least as quiet as his shoes would let him; rubber against hardwood floor wasn’t the best combination when trying to be silent. When he got to the kitchenette, he swung open the cupboard door and grabbed one of the coffee cups to pop in the Keurig he brought along with him from home much to everyone’s pleasure. Man, was this thing going to save them money during finals week (it wasn’t. they all knew they would still go to the closest coffee shop just like everyone else)! He got started on his usual routine, popping his cup into the slot, sliding his favourite Ghostbusters mug under the little spout, popping some toast into the toaster. As he was getting the butter out of the fridge for his toast, he heard a door close and saw Karkat slip out of his room to come sit on one of the 2 stools at the little breakfast bar rubbing at his eyes with the palms of his hands.

“Sleep well?” questioned John as his toast popped up from the crevices of the toaster.

“I tried to, but that fucking alarm of yours is literally going to be the bane of my god damned existence.” Grumbled the other. His messy dark brown hair was still in its bed head state, his pale ivory skin glowing with the natural sunlight streaming in from the kitchen window.

“Blame Vriska. She had all the capability to wake me up when it went off the first time, and yet here I am, still in the dorm when I could’ve been out meeting new people right now, yet here I am. She had all the capability Karkat. Aaaaaaaall of it.”

“Ugh, now you’re talking like her. Someone shoot me already.” Karkat groaned. And speak of the devil, there she is herself!

“I heard someone say my name. As much as I was comfortable in the embraces of my warm ass blanket, It would be just plain cruel to keep my fans waaaaaaaaiting, now wouldn’t it.”

“Don’t see how you could possibly warm while you’re busy being such a stone cold BITCH” Karkat shot at her. John had to hand it to him, as early as it was (for Karkat), that was a pretty good one.

“Good morning to you too Karkat, dear.” Said Vriska, not really actually paying him any attention as she went to unlock and open the front door. “John, I’m heading to get coffee and shit with ‘Rez. You wanna hop along?”

John looked up from the toast he had just finished buttering and spared a glance to his fresh and steaming mug of Vanilla Decaf Mocha. Vriska had her blonde hair in a messy bun atop her head and was wearing her black jeans with the lacy white spider web covering the front of them, and her shirt that sported the sign of the Scorpio in her favourite cerulean colour. Not to mention her favourite pair of blue converse (her favourite because she and John had both gotten the same pair together as a sign of friendship “I don’t want any of that shitty ‘BFFS 5 EVr’ jewelry from Claire’s or whatever, Egbert! We’re gonna go get ourselves a pair of matching kicks!!” 7th grade Vriska had told John as she pulled him along to the nearest Journey’s at the mall.

“Actually, I guess you’re busy doing you. See ya later losers.”

“Wait no! I guess I’ll tag along..” he said wrapping his toast up in paper towel and shoving it in his pocket briskly. He could eat just eat it at wherever they were headed. Vriska just smirked and mumbled what sounded to be a “’S what I thought.”.

“Karkat!! Feel free to drink my mocha!” John got out before Vriska slammed the door shut.

“You say that like I wasn’t going to the minute you got your ass out the door.”

            ====> Dave: Ensue bored yet debating conversation with the former Law Major

“Why not Dave? Are you denying the basic rights and privileges of a blind girl?” So she was gonna try to pull that card on you, huh?

“I may not have been obsessed over the law like you were, I don’t fucking know, your entire life? But I do know that you literally have to right to do that and that it is literally fucking disgusting. I know neither of us can actually see each other (though I have more of an ability to actually fuck see than you do), but if you want to know my eye colour, tough luck!”

“COMMMON DAVE! Just let me get one little lick at your eye!! Pleeease?!” she whined.

The entire café (consisting of about 5 people, including TZ and yours truly) was starting to stare at you guys now, but it wasn’t like you were embarrassed by her or anything. Back when you were a thing, she pulled this sort of shit all the time. You actually find it oddly endearing?

“No. Not happening.”

“Just one little lick?”

“No.”

“Just a little… swipe??”

“Not happening.”

  
“Maybe just a sniff? Up cloose?”

“No way in hell.”

Terezi sighed, finally accepting the fact that she was probably never going to get to figure out his eye colour (because they both knew he wasn’t going to straight up tell her), and instead went to complain about Vriska’s lack of being at places when she was supposed to be. It started off as mumbles at first, but not soon enough evolved into an actual conversation.

 “All I’m saying is if she actually felt like meeting up with me, she would actually be here already. We’ve been waiting here for 30 minutes, and we’d been talking about this for like 2 weeks now UGHH” she groaned, complaining.

“Maybe she’s pining over herself again. Ya know how she likes to do. Looking at herself in the mirror and shit every morning, afternoon, and night. She eats herself up. D’you hear about that new cereal that came out? Probably not. It’s called Vriska Flakes, and its Vriska’s favourite thing to eat every day. Also, it’s called Vriska Flakes because she’s flaky, just like you were emphasizing.”

“Wow killing two birds with one stone with your metaphors, cool kid. You are getting slightly better at your rambling.” Grinned Terezi as she whipped her head to flip her gingery-red bangs out of her face. You loved to photograph that hair back when you were dating and when you were into photography: when you got it in the right light (Dave’s favourite was the setting sun, and sometimes the rising sun if he could be bothered to get up early enough to get the right lighting), it looked like her hair was an actual fire. Though neither of them could really appreciate it, he had always heard that his photos were really great. And occasionally when Terezi licked one of his pictures.

After another 15 minutes, Terezi was exasperated and ready to get out of there. Both of their coffee’s had gotten cold by then, and it was really cold. It made Dave want to buy another coffee, but he refused because he knew that coffee shops did that on purpose to get you to specifically buy more of their coffee (he’d learned it when he got a part time job as a cashier at the local Starbucks, and though it made his paycheck fatter, he wasn’t actually interested in making anyone else’s fatter because of some trick.)

“Oh my god if she doesn’t walk in the door right the FUCK now I’m serious just going to leave. I’m so done with this shit now.” Terezi finally snapped, her face contorted in anger. Vriska pulls the same shit every time anyone tried to invite her out somewhere.

And just as if on cue, she burst through the door with a smug smirk on her face, while TZ began to go off on her. But her words quickly died out in her throat as she sensed the other person that she had undoubtedly dragged along against their will.

But damn if you couldn’t just TELL that he was cute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo this is the second actual fic ive ever written? The first is hidden somewhere in the depths of Wattpad (those were the dark days.. we don't talk about those).... You don't have to like this fic, but please give it a chance i guess? :T idk
> 
> And charecters will be added as the story progresses because there is no way in hell that im gonna put all the charecters that i want to have in this fic all in one (whilst my broswer crashes every 
> 
> it just crashed again).
> 
> But anyways, I hope you enjoy this first chapter! As much as i love 1000000000 word chapters, i didn't make this one too long because wow i actually have to draw the line somewhere. Hope people stick around to read more in the future! (no set upload schedule yet: thinking maybe as soon as i can finish them or once every week)


	2. Dude, is that Toast? (Mr. Blonde McMagic Douche)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which idiot #1 mocks idiot #2 for eating toast in a cafe. Also, subtle shipping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF THE LAST CHAPTER*
> 
> Alternatively named: The Author Doesn't Know How To Choose One Title So They Put Two in One (Just Like This)
> 
>  
> 
> sigh
> 
> (the chapter has 7420 words haha blaZE IT)  
> (also, warning for bible mentions? idk : |

****

            ====> John: Enter the coffee shop..?

After about a half an hour of walking, taking breaks because you totally weren’t out of shape, and having to pause every 5 seconds so that Vriska could check her reflection in the reflection of every single shop window, you finally come to find yourselves entering a coffee shop called “Gallery Espresso”. Heheh sounds like a coffee shop hipstery artists come to do their hipstery artist things. Being ready to get this over as soon as Vriska-ly possible, you went to open the door to the shop (it’s not that you didn’t like Terezi! You just really wanted to stay inside and do nothing today!). Or, at least, you tried to. Before you could step into the sweet embrace of the cold café, Vriska pulled you to the ground, next to where she was currently situated for who knows why.

“JOHN!” your spunky friend whisper shouted as loud as humanly possible, “what do you think you’re doing?!”

“Um…. Going inside the coffee shop..?”

“No! No no no no no no no noooooooo! Do you even GET it John? You probably don’t get it. It’s okay, really. Some people just weren’t blessed with as complex and smart a brain as mine.”

“Okay fine. Lay out your super ‘smart and totally complex plan’ for me please, Vriska. I’m so sorry that my tiny peanut brain is so weak and small and not capable of coming up with amazing plans like yours apparently can. Really, no. I don’t know how I survived all those years with the prank master that is my Dad.”

“OH MY GOD. Please shut up. We get the message, John! Your puny brain is stupid and useless! Message received!”

“Can you PLEASE just tell me why you’ve got us sitting out here on the hot pavement in the middle of the freaking summer, burning our ASSES off?!”

“OKAY, okay! Sheesh. Of the people that could use a good helping of patience. My amazingly complex plan is actually quite simple, to be blunt about it. Do you remember in middle school when I used to drag you around with me and make you go out with me while I hung out with ‘Rez?”

“How could I forget? Those were some of the worst times of my life.” You say, slipping down to lean back on the hot wall under the window of the café for more comfort.

“Wow way to be brutally honest. Really, you deserve an award, John.” Vriska deadpanned, paired with a round of sarcastic applause.

“Well I didn’t mean it like that, I just-“

Vriska shoved her hand over John’s mouth, only to have it be brushed away with some laughter. “No, shut up, I’m trying to give you an explanation to a question that YOU asked. So anyways, you remember how Terezi was always blowing her fuse about me always showing up late? The answer’s yes, I know you remember. It happened every time. Buuuuuuuut the point is, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, John. Terezi is bound to still have the same reaction if we show up late this time, and I think I speak for the both of us when I say her reaction is damn funny!”

“Well then why didn’t we just leave late so that we had an ACTUAL reason for not getting there on time?” you questioned, asking what we all wanted to know.

“Because John, as complex, smart and amazing that my brain may be, I only just figured out this amazing plan. Speaking of which…….. It’s been 15 minutes. I want a funny reaction, not an angry girl. Let’s go!”

====> John: Enter the coffee shop.

Finally, you enter the coffee shop. You let Vriska lead you by the hand, looking around and taking in the scene as you walk past. Around you, you see mismatched couches, various kinds of tables and all different kinds of chairs. There’s a cool shelf where some pottery and other things are slid into the slots. There were some glass cases with candles inside and on top as well. Potted plants were perched on almost every surface, some with vines leading down to the floor and some others with leaves that stuck straight up high into the air. And finally a huge counter towards the back of the room with all kinds of different bags of coffee blends to take home and make for yourself. Huh. Never judge a book by its cover you guess. This place is actually pretty cool.

You actually look to where Vriska was leading you for the first time since you stepped a foot into the shop. Sitting at the table now in front of you was the ever-so-recognizable Terezi Pyrope, and…. Some other guy? He looked pretty douchey to you, but you were taught not to judge people before you’ve talked to them. He had on a red tank-top with a bright red gear on it. It was one of the logos from that game Sburb that was really popular when you guys were in middle school! Okay, slightly less douchey. He had some really white-blonde hair, and his skin could be compared to paper and stand a chance in a competition. He was wearing black skinny jeans (hmm.), worn red converse (you own converse yourself, so you can’t judge him for that.), a black leather jacket that looks like it’s had its fair share of love (a leather jacket in the middle of summer!? Was he trying to kill himself?!!!?), and……… shades. He was wearing shades. Indoors. Douche levels through the roof.

Terezi on the other hand was looking as stunning as ever. Her red-ginger hair was glowing like hot embers, accented by the red glass of her glasses. She still had all her tan coloured freckles in all the same spots, still standing out in contrast to her pale skin just like you remembered. She was wearing a teal plaid shirt with a pair of black leggings and her favourite pair of specially commissioned “Neophyte Redglare” converse that Vriska got her for her 16th birthday. Terezi was really into video games since before you could remember knowing her, even though, you know. With being blind and all. Even with her amazing looks and personality, you’ve never thought of Terezi as more than a friend, if not just an acquaintance. But even with all this beauty, her face was twisted ugly into a horrifying frown. No one ever really knew how Terezi’s teeth got so sharp looking. They just turned out like that.

“Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to drag their lazy ass off of the pavement to actually SHOW UP.” The ginger snarled to her friend before scoffing out another response. “And with a new victim, I see? Who got themselves tangled up in the spider’s web this time?”

“Oh Terezi, you have no idea of the truth behind your words.” Vriska nudged you in the side. Terezi wasn’t amused in the slightest, and only showed a face of angry confusion in response. “But anyways, don’t tell me you don’t remember John. I almost forgot your condition. You wish you could see this hot hunk of a man, ‘Rez.” Vriska chose this time to sling her arm around your shoulders, leaning heavily into your side.

With a sniff (and taste..?) to the air, Terezi responded. It always amazed you how Terezi seemed to “see”, even if it was a little disgusting to you. “Wow. THAT’S John? You shaped up well, Heir. Puberty did you well, young Breath player.”

You flush, attempting to cover you face as you make unrecognizable sounds.

“Oh my gooooooood. Are you still going on about that video game after all these years? I never did see what you guys saw in “Sburb” Doesn’t surprise me though. You were practically OBSESSED with that game.” This earned a snort and a simple shake of a head. You almost forgot that he was there too. Vriska noticed as well, and turned her head to glare at him.

“And I see you’re still with Strider?”

Before Terezi had the chance to spit out a comeback, King Douche Glasses himself spoke for the first time since he’d probably stepped foot in the coffee shop.

“Nah. TZ wishes she still had this in her clutch. Strider’s are too hot to handle. Tried to take me out of the oven and I burned her oven mitts off. Tried to put me on the counter to cool. But, wow, sur-fucking-prise! I’m already cool as shit.” The blonde douche said with a flip of his hair. Even if his metaphors were horribly stupid and he looked like a Class-A douche, he was pretty funny to listen to. Yea he was funny. That’s the only reason you liked hearing his voice.

“Oh god why do you even still hang out with this moron?” Vriska questioned with her trademark eye roll, pulling out a seat to sit on so they could get their conversation started.

“Says the person who still hangs out with all their friends from high school, AND rooms with like 75% of them.”

And with that, they went off on a tangent. You sit as well eventually after being asked by Vriska if you were going to just stand there like an idiot for the duration of their time together. You simply flushed, pulled out your chair, sat down and began your thumb twiddling. This is what you’ve been doing for the past 10 minutes. By this time, you’d already memorized each crumb left on the table, where the biggest dust clusters were around the center of the table, and just about how many napkins were shoved into the little container in the middle of the table (you counted about 326). Now, you were left with no more mindless tasks to busy yourself with. You.. suppose that you could try to strike up a conversation with the guy sitting across from you, like a normal person, but he wasn’t looking in your direction even remotely his head facing off to the side (oh my god, was he watching those two people making out?! Gross!), and if you did try to get his attention or actually manage to get a decent conversation going, Terezi and/or Vriska would notice and probably just shut that down.

Then, you notice something hard in your pocket. Probably just your phone. But wait.. Your phone was in your left pocket, not your right! You reach into your pocket, and find your toast that you’d made this morning! It was cold, and the butter had soaked through, but man were you hungry. Since you had nothing else to do at the moment (unless you want to get with twiddling your thumbs again for the rest of this little meet up), you figured now would be as good a time as any to dig into your toast.

            ====> Dave: Keep an eye on the cute glob in sitting in front of you.

You turn your head to look off to the side, or so it appeared to everyone else. You weren’t actually looking at that couple in the corner macking on each other (though you think they should probably, I don’t know, GET A ROOM), but at the cute looking glob sitting across from you. You wish you could see exactly what he looked like, but that would include you having to get all up into his personal space, and you’re not about that. Having impaired vision was specifically annoying sometimes. Most of the time. Basically all the fucking time. But even with that, you could still make out the basic features. He had a mop of dark brown hair on his head and toffee skin. He was wearing some sort of white shirt (a V-neck probably) and what looked to be khakis. Cute, probably a chick magnet. Most likely former football player in high school. But DAMN was he awkward as shit. For about a half an hour while you were all sitting, he twiddled his hands, stared at something on the table, and played with napkins. Not once did he try to start up a conversation like a normal person would’ve. But then again, normal people often don’t try to just start up conversations all willy nilly (since when did you say willy nilly in your monologues?). Most people find you intimidating (you like to think), or they just get bad vibes from you. This is why you wear your shades. You’re not exactly in Texas anymore, but Georgia still has its fair share of bible fanatics (as you like to call them). Red eyes and the bible aren’t exactly the best mix.

So you’re sitting here watching this cute little asshole, twiddling his thumbs and shit, when he goes searching through his pockets. He’s probably seen through your shades and is about to make a scene in the middle of the café by performing an exorcism. Let the power of Christ compel you. You knew this day would come eventually.

But… that’s…. NOT what he’s doing??

He searches through his pockets, his little “a-hah!” sound of confirmation barely audible over the loud yet controlled murmur of the coffee shop. With a sniff to the air (taught by Sniff Master Terezi herself) and a squinting of the eyes because that shit doesn’t even work (fuck you Sniff Master). You see a blurry blob that look vaguely like two beige square shapes. You come to the conclusion that he’s holding….. toast.

You ask just to make sure.

“Dude, is that toast?” It comes out with a sarcastic snort. So much for trying to ask a question like a normal person.

“I.. uh…. Yea?”

“Toast. In a café.”

“Well I-“

Before he can answer, the spider chick speaks up for him. “Woooooooow Dave, you’re getting better, I see.” Vriska pronounces snidely. “Colour me surprised.”

“You’d like that though, wouldn’t you. Well sadly, I won’t be getting any better If I have to look at your ugly mug any longer.”

Pause for reactions:

A loud snort from ‘Rezi, a “vicious” glare from Vriska, and a chunk of toast down the wrong pipe from John. 30 out of 30, you’re going to the finals Strider.

“Haha! Yes, let’s make fun of the blonde girl!” snapped the angry Scorpio chick.

“But Vriska, *cough* you’re not even a natural *cough* bl-“

“CAN IT JOHN!”

Terezi wiped a stray tear off her cheek, stained teal from the makeup she put just underneath her eyes, before talking again. “Well, as much as I would love to stay and keep chatting about your, WOOOOOOOONDERFUL x8x8x8x8x8x8x8x8 to the eighth power your life is, Vriska,” she mocked, “Dave and I have somewhere else to fly off to today. Soo..”

You just shrug. Terezi has probably had her monthly fill of Vriska for now, and she’ll probably drag you back again next month.

“Yea. We have a wedding to go and finish planning. Shit is gonna be huge. Can’t do that kind of stuff over overnight. TZ, don’t forget to call the caterer. You know I want my apple juice fountain more than anything, babe.”

Terezi “mhms” in agreement, cackling all the while. Vriska simply rolls her eyes (one day her eyes are going to get stuck in that position she loves to put them in so much. You’ve already bet money on it with a few people), and John smiles whilst he continues to nibble on his toast.

“And you.” You say, pointing to the boy you’d been thinking about not even 3 seconds ago, a napkin held in your out stretched hand. The deer in headlights look he had displayed on his face showed up as a movement of a toffee coloured blob to you. “Might want to clean off that face of yours. I can’t actually fucking tell if your face looks crummy, pun totally intended because irony, bee-tee-dubs, but damn if toast doesn’t leave those little bastards everywhere. Same with granola bars. Fuckers are messy.

John looks you in your shades, like he thinks it’s a game and if he grabs the napkin it’ll combust into flames. After the awkward as fuck hesitation that lasted about 5 seconds, he finally takes the napkin none the less with a quick mumbled “thank you”.

“Wow cheating on your own fiancé right before her very blind eyes. Bold. That’s why I like you.” Joked Terezi, a hand thrown over her mouth dramatically.

You take Terezi’s arm and loop your own through hers, flashing her your signature Strider smirk.

“Now you’re blind as well as delirious. Actually, nah, you were always both those things. Well, I said my part. Let’s bounce, yo.

            ====> John: Continue with your life as if this whole meet up had never happened.

That plan sounds amazing to you.

But let’s recap first.

Yeah, when you’d first walked in you kinda labeled him as King Douchington. But who wouldn’t when the guy was wearing a leather jacket in 97 degree heat AND shades indoors? Needless to say, you’ve noticed his looks. The longer you looked at him, the simply more attractive he became. Under the soft yellow lighting of the coffee shop, his blonde hair seemed more blonde than white like it actually was, and it made his skin glow in its natural paleness than how chalky it looked when you walked in and saw him for the first time, the various shapes and sizes of his light brown dusting of freckles seeming to stand out in all the right ways. His shade’s reflected the outside, the black of his lenses decorated with the trees and other nature. The jacket he wore made his shoulders look amazing in all the right ways, and his skinny jeans made his legs look long and slender rather than awkward like they looked when he stood up to leave (you did NOT look at his butt as he walked away. Nope.).

But…

Those shades.

They had you on edge the entire time you were all sitting together. He had his head turned to the side, yet.. You couldn’t shake the feeling that he was somehow watching you? He had barely moved from that position the entire time, only moving to make a comment about when you took out your toast. Delicious toast. But wait! How would he have known you were about to eat your toast if he wasn’t paying attention to you? You know he couldn’t have smelled it because you were in a freaking coffee shop, so he WAS paying attention to you after all! You were probably just paranoid, probably just wanting someone hot to notice you (not that you weren’t noticed by hot people all the time heh). But since when did you start thinking that he was hot?! This is WHY you don’t inner monologue, John!

But seriously, damn those stupid shades. Making you all paranoid and shit. You didn’t deserve this. Though.. There were a few highlight comments between him, Terezi and Vriska that might’ve suggested that his vision wasn’t all that great? Maybe he uses the shades as, you know, actual glasses? But then why didn’t he just get a regular pair of glasses? It certainly would be much easier to see with clear glasses than with wearing tinted shades the entire time. You figure that’d you’d rather not get into thinking about it too hard. Firstly, you wouldn’t accomplish anything by thinking about it too much, and secondly, between all the prank wars, cake, and various fatherly notes, your dad taught you not to attempt to pry into other people’s business. It was just common manners for a suburban boy like you. If he’s happy with wearing shades and never truly seeing the vibrant colours the world has to offer, then you’re happy for him.

After a while of idle nibbling and staring off into distances whilst realizing you’re staring at an actual person, you soon finish your toast. Though not the fresh, crisp toast you like to busy yourself eating, it was delicious to say the most. The butter really had a chance to soak in, and you stand behind your dish. You really hope you don’t get chopped, heheh. You stare at the napkin in front of you on the table that Dave had given you before he walked out arm in arm with Terezi. You weren’t sure if they were actually a couple or not. Deciding to put the napkin to good use, you pick it up to wipe your “crummy” face off. You have to admit that the guy was right; toast can get quite messy. A quick look down to your shirt proved this point. You were covered in toast crumbs (mainly from inside the napkin from where the crispier bits of toast had fallen off). But as you’re wiping your face clean, you see… something on the back? You pull the napkin down from you face to flip it over to the opposite side in your hands. What you’re presented with is various words in very scribbly writing.

Your heart is racing, and you don’t know why. Quickly, you flip the napkin back over, hiding the writing from potential prying eyes, thinking that whatever Dave wrote on the back was meant for your eyes only. You steal a quick glance over to Vriska, only to find her with her knees tucked into her chest on the chair with her headphones on, scrolling through her phone. Hopefully, she won’t be moving around anytime soon. So you turn over the napkin.

Dave Strider

101-101-1001

turntechGodhead

;)

On the backside of the napkin, you find his name, phone number, a winky face (your cheeks flush instantly), and…. Is that a chumhandle?! Who even USES pesterchum anymore? And when did he write all of this down? Does he just go around giving random people who eat toast in coffee shops napkins with his contact info on it? If that’s the case, that’s pretty stupid. What if the napkin fell into the wrong hands? What if he was an infamous drug dealer, and the police got a hold of one of his napkins? What if someone put him on a hit list and the hit man got a hold of a napkin like this? He could be assassinated any moment! WHAT IF HE ALREADY WAS ASSASSINATED?! Wait.. What were you thinking about again? Probably wasn’t important.

You shove the napkin (oh right, the napkin) into your pocket, tapping Vriska on the shoulder lightly. You watch over her shoulder as she pauses her music – “Hang Em’ High” by My Chemical Romance? Everything about that sounds angsty. Fitting for Vriska, now that you think about it – and removes one side of the pair of headphones. She raises an unkempt brown-blonde eyebrow, making an encouraging “hm?” sound whilst waving her hand towards you and continuing to scroll through her dash.

“Um, I’m gonna go back to the dorm early. I didn’t really have anything planned for today, and I don’t have my wallet with me. Sort of forgot it in the dorm before we rushed out..” you told her awkwardly, mumbling that last bit.

She replies to you with a simple, “Kay.” and goes to move her headphone back into place over her ear again, sliding up the little dashboard from the bottom of her phone to start her music back up again. Before she can though, you grab her wrist.

“You gonna be alright? Getting back by yourself and everything?”

That got her attention apparently, as she scoffed and went to slide the rest of her headphones down around her neck.

“Oh my god, John. Are you serious? Was that an actually serious question? Give me more credit than that. I really should be asking YOU that. Are you going to be okay by yourself? Do you know how to protect yourself if a strange man (or woman; I blame the economy) comes up to you? I wouldn’t know, seeing as how I had to protect not only myself, but you as well all throughout middle AND high school. Not that I wasn’t fully capable of doing so. I do believe that I handle all those jerks quite nicely.”

“Alright, alright!” you laugh, breathy and light. “Let’s just say that I was kidding, then. I’ll see you later Vris.” You wave off to her as you walk through the coffee shop and towards the door. But before you can open it, you can hear Vriska calling out your name, as she grabs onto your wrist.

“Wait, John!!” she shouts, pausing to pant and take a few deep breaths. “Really, be careful out there okay?” her eyes are sparkling, the dazzling cerulean of her eyes threatening to swallow you into its unknown depths. She had a smile on her face, one she only saved for you, and her eyebrows were knit into concern: something you’d never seen before, and you thought it looked quite weird on her face. But not in a bad way. Somehow, it made you feel…. Glad to have her as a friend? Yeah that sounded about right. She’d always been there for you, stuck up for you, and you’ve always loved that bright smile and those stunning wide eyes she always showed you when none of your other friends were around to witness it. It was like you saw your own version of Vriska in a way, a Vriska that no one else ever saw. That part of her was your Vris.

“I’ll be fiiiiiiiine,” you drawl, talking in the way she does sometimes (you think it’s become an unconscious effort on her part, she’d been doing it for so long) as you pull her into a tight hug. She hesitantly hugged you back, burying her face into your chest. You know she was only hesitant because she didn’t have much luck (despite ironically having ALL the luck) with reciprocating her feelings towards others. Being with standing right in front of the door in the center of the café, you could’ve sworn you heard a few “awws”. “It’s like, mid-afternoon. And I’ve only learned my self-defense from the best.”

When you both pulled away, your Vriska was gone and replaced by regular old Vriska. You loved both just the same, though. Though, regular Vriska had a slight blush covering her cheeks, the blue veins in the fleshy part of her face making her blush seem cerulean and matching her eyes.

“Yea, whatever. Dunno what came over me. See ya later, Egdork.” Vriska teased, turning to walk back toward her chair. You smiled at her turned back.

You were honestly so thankful to have such amazing friends.

            ====> Time: Do your thing.

Let’s go on a journey. A journey through time.

            ====> John: Talk about your feelings with your dear, dear sister-cousin.

What feelings? What the heck is a sister-cousin? If you meant vent to your awesome cousin about your troubles, then yes, that’s exactly what’s happening here.

            ====> John: Vent to your awesome cousin about your troubles.

That’s more like it.

After the partially tiring walk back to your dorm building, you finally get up the stairs to where your guys’ room is located. Just from outside the door, you can hear various noise. Shouting (definitely shouting), yelling, laughing, and loud thumps from time to time. It sounded like a war zone in there, and honestly, you were a little scared to enter the dorm. But eventually, you tire of standing outside your door like an idiot, and you go inside.

Inside your living room… is quite a scene to say the least. Every single one of your roommates was currently situated into your small living room. The lights were off, the only light coming from the TV screen, and the setting sun (it was later than you thought it was; about 7 or 8 now). There were pillows, blankets, stuffed animals and various limbs strewn all over the room, some people hanging off the couch or sitting on it, the others laying on the floor or just sitting there. You look to the TV after hearing nothing but high pitched voices and seeing nothing but bright colours display from the TV. It looks like some kind of cartoon for little kids? It’s on the Hub Family channel, so you know you’re not too far off the mark there. You decide to just ask someone instead of pondering thoughtlessly like a moron.

“…. What are you guys watching?”

“MLP!!” Jade, Tavros, and Nepeta say excitedly in unison from their various positions on the floor. They seem to be the main ones (and the only ones, you daresay) watching the weird show. You’d heard about that show before when Vriska told you about how true a hate post on Bronies was. You told her you didn’t want to get into it. You got into it anyways.

You then turn to the opposing group of your roommates, the ones sitting on the couch, which included Equius, Karkat and Gamzee. “And what about you guys?”

“I’m watching this because Nepeta wants me to. And also because there are ponies.”

“You know, that’s a really fucking amazing question that I don’t have a FUCKING ANSWER TO.” You know he’s out here because he doesn’t want to be alone in his room. You smile at him and roll your eyes before listening to Gamzee’s reason.

“Man, I don’t even know. I just all up and went to make myself and motherfucking sandwich, and then fuck, I ended up here on the couch. I didn’t question a thing. I’m just FEELING like I’m meant to be sitting here. Life is full of miracles.”

Ooooooookay.

Gamzee always did weird you out.

“Hey Jade, do you mind if we talk for min?” You ask, twiddling your thumbs and shifting from foot to foot every few seconds as you wait for her response.

“Yea sure.”

“…. Alone??”

Jade turns her head in your particular direction, making sure that you can see her eye rolling. She does excuse herself from the group though, making sure not to step on any arms, legs, heads, or other body parts. She passes you, not making eye contact, and you follow her down the hall. You can feel the eyes of all your roommates searing into your back. Nosy friends.

You end up in Jades and Tavros’ shared room. Now that you’re thinking about it, you haven’t really ever been in their room before. You look around, seeing that the split of their separate sides isn’t really distinct. Tavros side was quite clean (other than for Jade’s various things lying on the floor.) He had his tinkerbull plush lying at the fold of the blanket of his made bed.  He had a little desk facing the wall in front of his bed, and it was covered in his Game Development and Design books that he was going to use for his classes. There were other common desk things there too; pencils, pens, some markers, notebooks. Mainly things for his upcoming classes as well. His desk also held a pack of his Fiduspawn playing cards, some game that one of his friends made as a project. Up on his walls held all his Flarp posters, in various shades of blue, and he had some “Pupa-pan” posters too, another game that he played when he was younger. Jade’s half on the other hand, was almost apparent, due to the mess on the floor that was absent on her roommate’s half. But even Tavros’ half, you could see some of Jade’s favourite childhood Squiddle plushies (and some of those really weird little men plushies too) and a few seed packets were scattered around on the floor. You figured she must have been moving the box somewhere more convenient and dropped the box, seeing as it was in the middle of the floor. Her bass guitar and flute sat in the corner of her side, and her walls were covered in Squiddles posters, a Hero of Space symbol poster you got her for Christmas in 9th grade, and a few pictures above her bed. Jade herself only complemented her part of the room. Her green speckled black pajama set (inspired by her 3 am dress in Sburb. She always loved that dress.) went well with her caramel skin, her skin mostly tanned from being on an island for a part of her life (her real skin colour was a tad bit lighter than John’s). She had on her green Squiddle slippers and they matched her clothes. Her long black hair made her look slimmer (not that she was fat!), and really made her neon green eyes pop behind her coke bottle glasses. Her two front teeth were protruding from her lips, just like yours did every once in a while, and she currently stood with her hand on her hip. It’d been about five minutes now, and all you’d done was think about how the room and how Jade looked. Procrastinator.

“If you’re not going to talk to me, I have an MLP marathon to get back to.” She said, her words sounding harsh, though you know she didn’t mean it like that. She did make a point to try and walk out, but you grabbed her wrist before she could.

“I-I’m sorry! I just want to talk..”

She looked you in the eyes, sighing and reversing your grip so that she could pull you by your hand to her bed. “Tell me everything.”

You proceed to spill everything that had happened to you today. How you planned to make your regular toast and mocha and maybe just sit and watch the Saturday morning cartoons, when Vriska decided to pull you along with her to go to the coffee shop to meet up with Terezi. You told her how Vriska made you sit outside the shop so you could get a reaction out of her, which you did, and to which she replied, “That was very rude of her!”. You just shrugged.

Then, you told her about the boy at the café that was sitting with Terezi when you guys arrived.

You left out the part with all the detail about how the lighting made him look like a freaking angel, and just settled for telling her the basics about his looks and how you thought he was a douchebag, when you’d first walked in.

This is where she interrupted.

“Wait, you said when you first walked in. Did he do something to make you change your mind or something? You can be pretty stubborn about what you think (and feel) sometimes to be honest, so he must be, like, a magician.” She joked. You hoped she was joking.

“Shut up! I am not!”

“My point is proven.” You scowl in her direction. “Anyways, answer the question. Did Mr. Blonde Mc Magic Douche do something to make my dear stubborn cousin change his mind?”

Suddenly, the napkin in your pocket, the one HE (well, you guess his name was Dave) gave you, stood out in your pocket as if you’d put a rock in there. Your hand automatically gravitated towards where it was in your pocket, not so discreetly. Jade obviously noticed.

“What’s in your pocket, John.” It sounded less like a question, and more like a demand.

“.. Nothing.”

“John I swear to fucking god if you do not show me what’s in your pocket after you made me sit through your whining when I haven’t even detected a problem yet, I’m going to tell Karkat that you pulled me away to talk shit about his rom-coms.” Though sparingly, Jade curses. It surprised you the first time she did it. It’d been one of the months she was visiting you while her grandpa took a break from his amazing explorations. You both were about 10 (rather, you were 10 and she was 13), and she had dropped her flute onto her toe. She was grounded for a week. She only did it when she was nervous, angry, frustrated or sad, so now you felt guilty.

 You basically had no choice but to show her the napkin now, sighing as you removed it from your pocket. It was crumpled up into a ball, from when you wiped your mouth off. You unballed it and handed it to Jade. She read over the lines of words written on the crumply article, and you both sat in silence as she started at the writing.

“Who even uses pesterchum anymore?!” was the first thing that came out of her mouth a minute later.

“That’s exactly what I thought!” you agreed, laughing.

After your laughter died down, you both sat in silence again. She sighed, getting back up onto her feet and standing in the same position she had been in before. You almost had a heart attack when she threw the napkin in your face and you scrambled to catch it in the air as it floated down and onto your lap. She rolled her eyes at you again.

“And after our 15 more minutes’ wasted in awkward silence, I still have yet to find a problem.”

You groan, leaning over to place your head in your hands. “Ughhhh, what do I DO about it?!”

“What do you want me to tell you?! There’s no magical fairy that’s gonna come down and automatically make him your friend!”

“Who said I wanted him to be my friend.” you mumble.

“Well then what the fuck are you telling me about this for?!”

“I wanted your help, Jade! Isn’t that fucking obvious?!” Jade wasn’t the only one who could raise her voice. You bet the rest of your roommates are having a time hearing the two of you. Especially Karkat.

“DON’T YOU FUCKING TAKE THAT TONE AND LANGUAGE WITH ME MISTER!” she fumed.

The two of you glared daggers at each other, eyes wide and wild, making you think of that saying “If looks could kill”. If they could, the two of you would be dead twice over. Both of you were panting heavily, having gotten worked up. The silence was deafening and the tension in the room was thick.

Finally, you surrender.

You apologize. “Look, I’m sorry, I just don’t know what to do.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry too. You can just be so STUPID sometimes. Lemme keep talking,” she warns as you begin to cut her off. “I’ll just give you the simple advice. Fucking _talk_ to him. There’s a simple two ways to go about this: contact him, don’t contact him. I don’t care which you choose.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me that in the first place?!”

Jade grinned, all traces of annoyance and anger seeming to have vanished from your cousin’s face. “Because I’m a butt. You’re also a butt. We are all just big butts.”

You roll your eyes at her.

“And I don’t know why you’re getting so worked up over this anyways. Do you have a crush on him or something?”

You blush a little, surprising yourself when you hesitate to shout, “NO!”

Suddenly, the door was opening slowly, and you could both see Tavros’ head sticking out from the crack of the open door.

“Uhm… Jade, please don’t be mad at me, but I heard you guys were yelling at each other so I kinda just uh.. Stayed out of it. But the Equestria Girls movie started like 13 minutes ago..” Tavros mumbled quietly.

“Oh goddammit! Was it the new one? Where they’re in a rock band?” Jade questioned, her bottom lip sticking out and big green eyes looking sad.

Tavros “mhm’ed” quietly with a nod of his head, and Jade groaned in reply. You stated one of your thoughts: “Why didn’t you guys just pause it so that Jade wouldn’t miss it?”

“Well uh, I- I tried to… But.. Karkat said um… “I swear on my fucking bulge that if you pause this horrendous children’s TV show just to wait for Harley and Egbert to finish their incestuous sloppy makeouts, I will quite literally stab you in the back, and then feed your brain dead body to a pack of rabid dogs, so FUCKING help me.”. And um.. I don’t really want my spinal cord severed (I’ve already went long enough like that hahah) nor do I really jump at the idea of my body being fed to a pack of rabid dogs..”

You and Jade were gaping, but you soon figured out how to do the word thing again, and proposed another deal as Jade began to walk out. “Well why don’t you guys just rewind it?!”

“The button is broken, remember?!You were supposed to go to the store to get a new remote, doofus!” Jade shouted back, going back to the living room with Tavros right behind her.

That’s right. You were going to go after that meetup. Your whole day seems like forever ago now.

You walk out of their room, glancing down the hallway to the little get together. They were all basically in their same positions, except Nepeta was curled up in Equius’ lap (much like a cat; fitting for her), Tavros was perched daintily on Gamzee’s bony legs, and Jade was sprawled across everyone, her long legs barely reaching Equius, the crook of her knee settled on Tavros’ leg, and the rest of her body on Karkat’s lap, her head lying in the crook of his neck. All of them had some sort of a smile on their face as they all watched the cartoon. Even Karkat was doing his little smirk, though he was trying his hardest not to. They all looked so happy together, and it made you smile.

You turned your head to face forward again, pushing your door open from where it was already ajar. When you’d gotten in, you could see an obvious hump in Vriska’s bedding where she was laying down. She must’ve gotten home while you were talking to Jade.. You walk closer to her bed, seeing her turned toward your bed and her whole body wrapped around a pillow. She just looked so…. Peaceful. Not that she wasn’t peaceful when she was awake; it wasn’t like she was wreaking havoc or anything (at least not on purpose). But when she was asleep, she was just…. Vriska. No smirks, no glares, no sarcasm, no eye-rolling, just, _Vriska_. She looked almost exactly like your Vriska. You bent over slightly to reach down and move some of the hair in her face to behind her ear, using light, gentle motions. She stirred a little, and you waited until she was still again before you bent down fully to kiss her lightly on the forehead. After you pulled away, there was a sweet smile on her lips, barely visible to anyone who didn’t know her like you did, and she clutched her pillow a little tighter, snuggling up to it.

Sighing, you went to strip off your shorts and shirt, slipping your shoes and socks off with ease, deciding just to sleep in your boxers tonight. You flop down on your bed, the many blankets strewn across it cushioning your landing from the semi stiff mattress. You pull one over you, your body temperature seeming to have dropped quickly due to your sudden lack of clothing. In the few minutes you spent thinking about Vriska, you’d forgotten that the napkin issue was troubling you.

Oh right. The napkin issue.

You climb under your plethora of blankets fully, burrowing yourself a little hole like you did when you were younger. You reach out of your burrow hole to set your glasses down onto your little nightstand. You stare at your phone. It was sitting on top of the napkin (when did you put that there??), almost like it was mocking you. You block out the rest of the world by pulling your pillow in front of the hole’s opening. You sit in the darkness of your tiny den, willing yourself to fall asleep, but you can’t get your mind off the stupid guy from the coffee shop and his stupid napkin generosities.

Maybe you would text him tomorrow. Maybe you would just try your best to forget he existed, and that this day had never happened. Yeah, you particularly liked that second idea.

You could you still hear the sounds of the TV mixed with your roommate’s snoring as you drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> John isn't forgetting shit lolol
> 
> I wish I could've posted this sooner, what with it being the middle of the frickle fracking summer and what not, but wow summer camp is a thing i forgot i had this week. Freaking 7:45 am- 6:30 pm and its torture. I walked up and down three flights of stairs every day for about 5 times before i realized there was an elevator and when i got home i only had enough energy to lay down and type about 100 words. Im v sorr y
> 
> But anyways I hope you liked this chap. I put a little shipping stuff in (subtle jadekat, gamtav, and equinep, and quite strong hints of johnvris) whilst john and dave get their shit figured out :T also, lots of coolio dialogue that was quite fun to think up to match the personality of all the different charecters 
> 
> I love reading any feedback or comments, so even if you're just a guest, please please leave a comment :D
> 
> {OH! Hey, the Gallery Espresso is an actual place :00000000 the link to the Maps location is:
> 
> http://www.galleryespresso.com/
> 
> and i'll be doing this everytime I use an actual location, just to make sure they get credit or whatever! And no, Ive not actually been to this cafe, seeing as I live about an 1-2 hours away from Savannah and my only means of transport rn is riding in me mums ka. Vrum vrum~]


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